Systems and methods for using interaction information to deform representations of digital content

ABSTRACT

User behavior while interacting with one or more first representations of digital content can be monitored. Interaction information can be determined by monitoring the user behavior while interacting. Interaction information can include information identifying interaction areas of the first representation, degree of interaction information, and sequence of interaction information. The interaction information can be maintained and used to deform a second representation of digital content. The first and second representations can be of the same or different digital content.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The following applications are cross-referenced and incorporated hereinby reference:

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/125,346, entitled SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR DISPLAYING TEXT RECOMMENDATIONS DURING COLLABORATIVE NOTETAKING, by Laurent Denoue, et al., filed Apr. 19, 2002, which issued asU.S. Pat. No. 7,680,820 Mar. 16, 2010.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/617,549, entitled TELEPRESENCESYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIDEO TELECONFERENCING, by Jonathan T. Foote, etal., filed Jul. 11, 2003, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,154,526 Dec.26, 2006.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/629,403, entitled VIDEO ENABLEDTELE-PRESENCE CONTROL HOST, by Qiong Liu, et al., filed Jul. 28, 2003.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods forrendering representations of digital content and more specifically tosystems and methods for monitoring past and current user interactionwith representations of digital content to improve the presentation ofand interaction with representations of digital content.

BACKGROUND

Digital content is steadily becoming more ubiquitous in today's moderncomputing environment. Consequently, users are more consistently andfrequently accessing digital content. As users access digital contentmore and more, the presentation of and ease with which digital contentcan be accessed and interacted with is becoming more important.

In many instances, users may find themselves using and interacting withrepresentations of digital content that are similar but different toother representations of digital content. For example, many users accessdigital content, such as software applications, web pages, documents,etc. at work using a desktop computing device and at home using alaptop, PDA, and/or cellphone. In a simple example, a user may interactwith a representation of digital content that is merely of a differentsize than a previously used representation of the digital content.Consequently, users may interact with different representations of thesame digital content.

A user may get confused, disoriented, or otherwise have trouble wheninteracting with a representation of digital content that is somehowdifferent than a previous representation of the same content with whichshe interacted. For example, a user may have trouble selecting andinteracting with representations that have been scaled for presentationwith a PDA. Pixel coordinates may be scaled-down such that selectableareas of the representation become harder to select.

In many instances, the problem can be amplified by other factors such asthe use of a stylus or fingers on a touch-screen. Scaled representationsare often accessed or interacted with using non-traditional or lessaccurate input devices such as styluses or touch-screens. Scaledrepresentations can further be more difficult to understand, especiallywhen the representation includes text-based regions. Scaled-downrepresentations such as those on touch screens can be more difficult tointeract with because a user does not know what can be selected in manycases. Unlike a mouse or similar input device, touch screens typicallydo not have cursors that can change shape or otherwise provide feedbackto indicate a selectable area.

Users may also find themselves accessing content that is similar toother content, yet not exactly the same. For example, users may accessdifferent web pages having similar layouts or features, such as textboxes including search fields, submit buttons, and portlets such as newsheadline portlets. Moreover, users may begin use of new softwareapplications having interfaces with a similar layout or functionality toother interfaces.

Users may get confused or disoriented when interacting with arepresentation of new digital content, such as an interface of a newsoftware application or a new digital image. Users may have troubledetermining where selectable features such as menu items are located.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method in accordance with anembodiment for deforming a representation of digital content using pastand current user interaction.

FIG. 2 is a system in accordance with an embodiment that can be used toimplement the flowchart of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart in accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention for deforming representations of digital content.

FIG. 4 is a system in accordance with an embodiment that can be used inthe deformation of representations of digital content.

FIG. 5 a illustrates an exemplary first representation of content,wherein interaction areas of the first representation have beendetermined.

FIG. 5 b illustrates an exemplary second representation of the contentof FIG. 5 a, wherein active area deformation has been applied to thesecond representation in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 6 a illustrates an exemplary first representation of digitalcontent having determined interaction areas in accordance with anembodiment.

FIGS. 6 b-6 d illustrate an exemplary second representation of thedigital content of FIG. 6 a having an animation applied to correspondinginteraction areas in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 7 a is an exemplary first representation of a web browser interfacehaving a first representation of a web page presented through the webbrowser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 7 b-7 c is an exemplary second representation of the web browserinterface having a second representation of the web page presentedthrough the web browser, wherein layout deformation has been applied tothe second representation of the web page in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a system in accordance with an embodiment for usinginteraction information in a meeting software application.

FIG. 9 is a system in accordance with an embodiment for accessingcontent with a remote device, wherein a representation of the contentcan be deformed for presentation on the remote device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart in accordance with an embodiment for deformingrepresentations of content on a remote device.

FIG. 11 a is a flowchart in accordance with an embodiment whereininteraction information is used at a remote device to deformrepresentations of digital content.

FIG. 11 b is a flowchart in accordance with an embodiment whereininteraction information is used to deform representations of digitalcontent prior to transmission to a remote device.

FIG. 12 is a system in accordance with an embodiment wherein userinteraction with a representation of content on a first device can beused to improve a representation of the content on a shared device.

FIG. 13 a is a first representation of a digital image having determinedinteraction areas in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 13 b is a second representation of the digital image of FIG. 13 ahaving a layout deformed using interaction information in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention is illustrated by way of example and not by way oflimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements. It should be noted that referencesto “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily tothe same embodiment, and such references mean at least one.

In the following description, various aspects of the present inventionwill be described. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that the present invention may be practiced with only some or allaspects of the present invention. For purposes of explanation, specificnumbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will beapparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without the specific details. In other instances, well-knownfeatures are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the presentinvention.

Parts of the description will be presented in data processing terms,such as data, selection, retrieval, generation, and so forth, consistentwith the manner commonly employed by those skilled in the art to conveythe substance of their work to others skilled in the art. As wellunderstood by those skilled in the art, these quantities take the formof electrical, magnetic, or optical signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, and otherwise manipulated through electrical,optical, and/or biological components of a processor and its subsystems.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete steps in turn,in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the present invention,however, the order of description should not be construed as to implythat these operations are necessarily order dependent.

Various embodiments will be illustrated in terms of exemplary classesand/or objects in an object-oriented programming paradigm. It will beapparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention can bepracticed using any number of different classes/objects, not merelythose included here for illustrative purposes. Furthermore, it will alsobe apparent that the present invention is not limited to any particularsoftware programming language or programming paradigm.

Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention can provide for improved presentation and interaction withdigital content and representations of digital content. Representationas used herein includes, but is not limited to any visual and/or audiblepresentation of digital content. By way of a non-limiting example,digital images, web pages, digital documents, digital audio, and othersuitable content can have corresponding representations of theirunderlying content. Moreover, interfaces such as graphical userinterfaces (GUI's) can have corresponding representations of theirunderlying content.

In one embodiment of the present invention, past and current userinteraction with a first representation of digital content can be usedto improve presentation and interaction with a second representation ofthe same digital content or of other digital content. For example, userinteraction with a representation of an interface or web page can beused to improve the presentation and interaction with a scaledrepresentation of the interface or web page. In one embodiment, userinteraction can be used to deform the layout and/or active areas of arepresentation of digital content. User interaction with arepresentation such as that of an interface or digital document can alsobe used to improve presentation and interaction with the samerepresentation. In other embodiments, user interaction with arepresentation of first digital content such as a first web page can beused to improve a representation of second digital content such as asecond web page.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for using user behavior while interacting with afirst representation to deform a second representation in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention. Although this figuredepicts functional steps in a particular order for purposes ofillustration, the process is not limited to any particular order orarrangement of steps. One skilled in the art will appreciate that thevarious steps portrayed in this figure could be omitted, rearranged,combined and/or adapted in various ways.

In one embodiment, the first representation and the secondrepresentation can be the same representation. In another embodiment,the second representation can be a scaled version of the firstrepresentation. In yet another embodiment, the first representation canbe of first digital content while the second representation can be ofsecond digital content.

At step 102, user behavior while interacting with a first representationcan be monitored. Monitoring user behavior while interacting with thefirst representation can include determining areas of the representationwith which one or multiple users interact. Determining areas of therepresentation with which a user interacts, such as by providing inputat an area or indicating a selection of an area, can include determiningareas corresponding to input received from a user. For example, an areaof the representation that a user clicks or selects can be determined. Aselected hotspot, a highlighted textual passage, a selected menu item orbutton can all be determined as part of step 102.

Any device or method for providing input can be used in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. For example, monitoring userbehavior while interacting can include monitoring mouse clicks, keyboardselections, voice commands, gestures, remote control inputs, PDA inputsas well as any other suitable input. An application or softwarecomponent such as a monitoring component can be configured to acceptinformation relating to input. By way of a non-limiting example, acomponent can be configured to be notified of input such as mouseclicks. An event or an object generated by the input can be accessed todetermine information such as the location and type of the input.

Monitoring user behavior can include monitoring a single user's behavioror multiple users' behaviors. User behavior can also be monitored overperiods of time. For example, user interaction with a representationover multiple instances or periods of time can be observed. Theinformation can be used to determine user behavior based upon theobserved extended interaction period or instances. In one embodiment,the user behavior of a first user while interacting with arepresentation of digital content can be used to deform a representationof digital content presented to a second user.

Interaction information can be determined using the user behavior atstep 104. In one embodiment, determining interaction informationincludes determining identification information for areas interactedwith or determined to be of interest to a user. For example, the pixelcoordinates of a point or area of interaction can be determined, anidentifier for a menu item of an interface can be determined, or adestination universal resource locator (URL) corresponding to a selectedhyperlink can be determined as part of determining interactioninformation. Furthermore, information identifying degrees or sequencesof interaction with areas or sets of areas of the first representationcan be determined. In one embodiment, determining interactioninformation includes aggregating, averaging, or otherwise combiningmultiple users' interactions. Furthermore, determining interactioninformation can include aggregating, averaging, or otherwise combiningmultiple instances of a single user's interaction with a firstrepresentation.

At step 106, interaction information can be maintained. In oneembodiment, maintaining interaction information can include logging orstoring information relating to interaction. For example, informationidentifying areas interacted with or determined to be of interest usingobserved user interaction can be stored. As discussed below, numeroussystems and techniques can be used to maintain interaction information.

A second representation can be deformed at step 108 based on thebehavior monitored at step 102. Various techniques for deforming thesecond representation can be used in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention as discussed below.

FIG. 2 is a system 200 in accordance with an embodiment that can be usedto implement the flowchart of FIG. 1. Although this diagram depictsobjects/processes as logically separate, such depiction is merely forillustrative purposes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat the objects/processes portrayed in this figure can be arbitrarilycombined or divided into separate software, firmware or hardwarecomponents. Furthermore, it will also be apparent to those skilled inthe art that such objects/processes, regardless of how they are combinedor divided, can execute on the same computing device or can bedistributed among different computing devices connected by one or morenetworks.

Monitoring component 202 can monitor user behavior while interactingwith one or more representations of digital content. As part ofmonitoring user interaction with a first representation, component 202can receive input corresponding to areas of the representation withwhich a user's interacts. For example, monitoring component 202 canreceive input identifying an area of the representation that a userselects or to which a user otherwise provides input. Such input caninclude “highlighting” a textual passage of content, selecting a portionof an image or document (e.g., “clicking and dragging” with an inputdevice to identify or select an area), and selection of thumbnails,hyperlinks, or hotspots, and other selectable areas. In someembodiments, monitoring component 202 can monitor how often or how manytimes an area(s) is interacted with or in what order a user interactswith areas.

In one embodiment, monitoring component 202 can monitor the selection ofactive areas of a representation. Active areas can include anygeographic region of a representation of content adapted to receive userinput and/or provide an action in response to user input. By way of anon-limiting example, hyperlinks, hotspots, areas for receiving datasuch as textual data supplied by a user, and areas that otherwise haveactions associated with selection of the area all have correspondingactive areas. Menu items or buttons of an interface or of content suchas web pages, documents, etc. can have corresponding active areas. Byway of a further non-limiting example, a representation of a GUI for asoftware application may have an active area corresponding to menuitems, buttons, data entry fields, etc. Menu items of an interface caninclude any area that can be selected to invoke, edit, or utilize theinterface and the underlying application including its features,functions, attributes, options, or commands.

Various techniques can be used in accordance with embodiments to monitoruser behavior while interacting with representations of digital content.It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the relevant artsthat any of such techniques can be used and are within the scope of thepresent disclosure. By way of a non-limiting example, monitoringcomponent 202 can monitor all or some input received by a device orapplication. Monitoring can include determining that input has beenprovided or received as well as determining the type of input. In oneembodiment, monitoring component 202 can access a device driver orapplication programming interface (API). For example, an input deviceevent such as a mouse click can be determined by accessing a devicedriver or API. Monitoring component 202 can monitor such events todetermine that an interaction has occurred as well as what type ofinteraction has occurred and where the interaction has occurred. In oneembodiment, component 202 is configured to be notified of input such asevents.

Logic component 204 can determine information and perform variousfunctions and/or steps in accordance with the flowchart of FIG. 1. Forexample, logic component 204 can be used to determine interactioninformation using user behavior at step 104 of FIG. 1. Logic component204 can further determine information and perform various functionsand/or steps not shown in FIG. 1. Logic component 204 can determineinteraction areas from the user behavior monitored by component 202 inone embodiment.

An interaction area can include any geographic region of arepresentation with which a user interacts. Input received from a usercan be used to determine and/or define an interaction area. In oneembodiment for example, monitoring component determines that a user hasprovided input to a representation. Logic component 204 can accept theinformation and determine an area corresponding to the received input.By way of a non-limiting example, logic component 204 can receive orretrieve an event generated by an input device driver and determine aregion of a representation corresponding to the event.

In a simple non-limiting example, logic component 204 can determine apixel coordinate(s) corresponding to a region to which a user hasprovided input. Information identifying an interaction area can includean x,y coordinate corresponding to an interaction area. In otherexamples, two x,y coordinates such as two points identifying two cornersof a rectangle can be used to identify an interaction area or acoordinate and radius can be used to identify a circular interactionarea. A user may “click and drag” to identify an area of arepresentation. An area defined by the user's input can be determinedand identified using coordinates corresponding to the received input.Any scheme or technique known in the art for identifying an area can beused in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.

In one embodiment, an API of a software application can be accessed todetermine an interaction area. For example, in many slide showpresentation software applications, textual, image, and other areas incontent presented through the interface are defined by boundaries suchas text box boundaries. By accessing an API, a selection within theseboundaries can be determined. From the selection, a textual or otherregion corresponding to the selection can be determined to be aninteraction area.

In one embodiment, logic component 204 can extrapolate input todetermine an interaction area. For example, logic component can receivean event indicating a single click within a textual passage. The singleclick can correspond to and be represented by a single pixel coordinatewithin the text passage. Logic component 204 can receive the event anduse the information to extrapolate and determine an interaction areacorresponding to the entire textual passage. For example, logiccomponent can determine two or more pixel coordinates defining a regioncorresponding to the textual passage.

Additionally, receiving input at a location near an area can be used todetermine that an area is an interaction area. This can be useful insituations where the interactions of multiple users or a single userover a period of time are being monitored. The user(s) may not selectthe exact same area even though their interest is all in the same area.In this embodiment, selections near an area can be used to determinethat an area is an interaction area.

Active areas can also be determined to be interaction areas. In oneembodiment, user input received at or near an active area can be used todetermine that an active area is an interaction area. For example, userselection of a hotspot or hyperlink can be used to determine that theactive area corresponding to the hyperlink or hotspot is an interactionarea.

Logic component 204 can additionally determine unique identifierscorresponding to menu items, buttons, and other similar active areas ofan interface or other content with which a user interacts. In oneembodiment for example, an API can be accessed to determine that anactive area corresponding to a menu item has been selected. A uniqueidentifier such as a variable name for the menu item can then bedetermined. A unique identifier can be tracked to determine acorresponding active area of a second representation.

Unique identifiers can also be useful where interactions with arepresentation of a first web page are used to deform a representationof a second web page. For example, a “submit” button or field for entryof a username in a representation of a web page such as that illustratedin FIG. 5 may be determined to be an interaction area. An identificationof the interaction area can be determined by accessing an API for aninternet browser to determine the area of the page selected. Afterdetermining the area selected, a document file (e.g., an html file) forthe web page can be accessed to determine a unique identification forthe area. For example, a text entry field of a web page may berepresented by an identification such as ‘username.input’ in an htmldocument. The identification from the html document can be tracked.

Logic component 204 can further determine a destination universalresource locator (URL) to identify an interaction area corresponding toa hyperlink. For example, an API for an internet browser can be accessedto determine links selected by a user. By accessing the API, thedestination URL address of a hyperlink can be determined. In oneembodiment, the URL can be maintained with an identification of the webpage containing the hyperlink.

In one embodiment, logic component 204 can determine an imagecorresponding to an interaction area as part of determining interactioninformation. By way of a non-limiting example, an area corresponding toa “close” menu item of a first representation of an interface may bedetermined to be an interaction area. The menu item may be representedby a graphic such as an ‘X’ as is show in FIG. 9. Monitoring component202 can determine that input has been received or provided at an areacorresponding to the menu item. Logic component can then determine agraphic corresponding to the menu item. Logic component 204 may accessan API in order to determine the graphic or file containing informationfor the graphic. Images can be tracked for later use in deforming asecond representation. An image comparison of the tracked graphic can bemade with the graphics of a second representation. A matching graphiccan be determined to be a corresponding interaction area and deformedaccordingly. Image comparison can be applied to determine correspondingareas between any two images. For example, a person's face may bedetermined to be an interaction area. The face can be tracked andcompared to determine a matching face in subsequent images. In thismanner, interaction information with a first image can be used to deforma representation of a second image.

It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that otherinformation identifying interaction areas can be used in accordance withembodiments of the present invention. Additionally, other techniques canbe used to identify some of the types of interaction areas discussedherein. For example, the active area corresponding to a hyperlink couldbe identified by pixel coordinates as has been discussed. Similarly,coordinates can be used to identify interaction areas corresponding tomenu items, etc.

In accordance with one embodiment, logic component 204 can include adegree evaluation component and a sequence evaluation component (notshown). The evaluation components can evaluate user behavior whileinteracting with interaction areas as well as evaluate the interactionareas themselves. In one embodiment, evaluation component 206 canevaluate interaction information in conjunction with determininginteraction information at step 104 of FIG. 1. These evaluationcomponents can evaluate interaction to determine degrees of interactionwith interaction areas and to determine a sequence of interaction withinteraction areas. An aggregated, averaged, or otherwise combinedinteraction of multiple users or single users over multiple instancescan be used to evaluate user interaction.

In accordance with an embodiment, a degree evaluation component canevaluate how often or many times an interaction area is selected. Theevaluation can be used at step 104 to determine interaction informationidentifying degrees of interaction with interaction areas. For example,the number of times one or more users select an interaction area can bedetermined from an evaluation of user interaction. Informationidentifying the user interaction can be determined and stored along withan identification of the interaction area. In another embodiment, arelative degree of interaction with interaction areas can be determinedfrom an evaluation of user interaction. The number of times aninteraction area is selected in relation to other interaction areas canbe determined. Information identifying a relative interaction can betracked and used in deformation. An evaluation of user interaction canalso be used to determine that some areas should not be tracked at all.For example, an area selected once may be determined to not be ofsufficient interest to warrant tracking.

A sequence evaluation component can evaluate user interaction todetermine a sequence by which one or more users interact with arepresentation. User interaction can be evaluated to determine asequence of interaction with interaction areas in one embodiment. Theevaluation can be used at step 104 to determine interaction informationidentifying a sequence of interaction with interaction areas. Variousinformation identifying a sequence of interaction can be used inaccordance with various embodiments. For example, the order in which oneor more users select interaction areas can be determined. In oneembodiment, the interactions of multiple users can be aggregated,weighted, averaged, and/or otherwise combined to determine sequenceinformation. Information identifying a sequence of interaction can bevery useful when deforming a representation of a second interface byapplying an animation sequence to interaction areas.

Information maintenance component 208 can maintain interactioninformation. In one embodiment, maintenance component maintainsinformation determined at step 104 of FIG. 1. In one embodiment, a fileor storage unit can be used to maintain the information. By way ofnon-limiting example, interaction information can be stored ormaintained in a cache memory or a more permanent memory. Furthermore,interaction information can be stored or maintained by a client, server,or proxy depending on a particular application and/or the applicationsdesired functionality.

Information relating to user interaction can be stored for use indeforming representations of digital content. In a simple example, anidentification of interaction areas of a first representation can bestored for later use in deforming a second representation. Additionally,information relating to a degree of interaction with an interaction areacan be stored. For example, a number of times an area was interactedwith or a percentage of interaction with an interaction area relative toother interaction areas of a representation can be stored. Furthermore,information relating to a sequence of interaction with interaction areascan be stored. The information in the file can be accessed and used todeform a representation of digital content when presented.

In some embodiments, maintenance component 206 can maintain informationrelating to how a representation of an interface or other digitalcontent is to be deformed. This deformation information can bemaintained along with interaction information. For example, anidentification of an interaction area can be stored with informationrelating to how to deform the interaction area. The information mayspecify that an area is to be enlarged or zoomed, an active areaexpanded, an animation to be applied to the area, etc.

In one embodiment of the present invention, interaction information ismaintained along with an identification of the digital content to whichthe interaction information relates. For example, a file can includeinformation identifying an interface, an identification of interactionareas of the interface, information relating to the degree ofinteraction with each interaction area, and information identifying asequence of interaction with the interaction areas.

Consider an example wherein interaction information with a web page istracked. A file used to maintain the interaction information may includeinformation identifying the web page (such as its URL address),information identifying interaction areas of the web page (such as theURL address or pixel coordinates corresponding to hyperlinks followedfrom the web page), information identifying the order in which theinteraction areas were selected or are most commonly selected, andinformation identifying the number of times each interaction area wasinteracted with.

A file or other storage unit that is used to maintain interactioninformation can include information for more than one representation ofdigital content. For example, one file may include identifications ofnumerous interfaces and other content such as web pages and documentsalong with interaction information for each of the interfaces andcontent.

In one embodiment, interaction information can be added to or embeddedwithin other information for digital content. By way of non-limitingexamples, interaction information can be appended to, combined with, orimbedded within a digital document file (such as a .txt file, e.g.), aweb page file (such as an .html or jsp file), or a file for a softwareapplication. The interaction information can be accessed to deform arepresentation of the digital content when rendered.

Deformation component 208 can be used to deform a second representationof digital content. In one embodiment, deformation component 208 can beused to deform a second representation of digital content at step 108 ofFIG. 1. Deformation component 208 can deform representations of digitalcontent through a dedicated interface as well as deform representationsof digital content rendered or to be rendered by other applications. Forexample, a representation of a digital document presented through a GUIof a word processing application can be deformed.

It will be understood that numerous software applications and contentpresented with such applications can benefit from various embodiments.For example, and without limitation, internet browsers, mediaplayers/editors, word processing applications, slidepresentation/creation applications, e-book readers, and operating systemuser interfaces can all benefit from embodiments. In one embodiment,software can be incorporated within any such application. It will beunderstood that one or more components can be added to an application.For example, an application may include a deformation component adaptedto receive interaction information. For example, code may be added tothe underlying code for the application to improve the application. Inother embodiments, a separate application can run “alongside” otherapplications for improvement of the application.

In one embodiment for example, an application in accordance with anembodiment is implemented as a stand-alone application. A stand aloneapplication may be implemented with a dedicated user interface forpresenting, editing, and/or deforming representations such as web pages,documents, slides, etc.

In another embodiment, a background application can be implemented toimprove presentation and interaction with representations of web pages,documents, images, etc. presented through third-party interfaces as wellas the presentation and interaction with third-party interfacesthemselves. A background application can monitor user behavior whileinteracting with multiple representations including those of interfacesand other digital content to improve presentation and interaction withother representations of the same or other digital content.

In a background application implementation, user behavior whileinteracting with various content and applications can seamlessly betracked to improve the presentation of software application interfacesand content presented through the interfaces. An application can monitorbehavior, maintain interaction information, and apply deformations torepresentations of content and interfaces without user intervention andwithout interfering with the user's typical interaction with theinterface or content.

Embodiments in accordance with the present invention can be implementedas client side applications, server side applications, proxyapplications, or various combinations thereof. Accordingly, thecomponents of FIG. 2 and steps of FIG. 1 can be distributed and/orimplemented in any combination on a client-side device, a server, or aproxy server depending on the desired functionality of a particularapplication. All such combinations are considered within the scope ofthe present disclosure.

For example, user behavior while interacting with a first representationcan be monitored by a monitoring component installed at a server,client, or proxy. Likewise, interaction information can be determined bya logic component and maintained by a maintenance component that isinstalled at a server, client, or proxy. Moreover, a secondrepresentation can be deformed by a deformation component implemented ata server, client, or proxy. Additionally, in some embodiments, instancesor copies of a component can be implemented at multiple locations.

In a simple embodiment for example, monitoring component 202 can beimplemented on a client device to monitor user behavior whileinteracting with representations of interfaces and content presented onthe client device. Logic component 204 can determine interactioninformation and maintenance component 206 can track the information atthe client device. If a second representation is to be deformed forpresentation on the client device using the interaction information, adeformation component 208 on the client device can deform the secondrepresentation. If a second representation is to be deformed forpresentation on a second device using the interaction information, theinteraction information can be accepted at the second device where adeformation component 208 can deform the second representation. Invarious embodiments, the deformation component can deform arepresentation using various techniques. A deformation component on aclient device may access a document object model to deform correspondinginteraction areas without modifying the original content.

Other embodiments in accordance with the present invention can beimplemented as server-side applications. User interaction with multipledevices in communication with the server can be used to determineinteraction information. The information can be tracked at the server sothat it can be used to deform representations presented on any machinein communication with the server. In one embodiment, a server-sidedeformation component can modify original content before it istransmitted.

Further embodiments can be implemented as proxy server basedapplications. A proxy server can interface between a client and serverto handle transfers of information including content, events, commands,instructions, etc. For example, in a web-based context, a proxy servercan handle requests and transfers among client based applications suchas Web browsers and server side applications such as Web servers.

In a proxy server based embodiment, interaction with representations ofinterfaces and content by one or more users can be maintained and usedto deform representations of content passed through the proxy server. Inone proxy based embodiment, monitoring component 202 can be implementedat a client (such as on a PDA, PC, etc.). Monitoring component 202 canmonitor user interaction with representations of content presented onthe client device. Logic component 204 can be implemented at the clientand can determine interaction information based upon the monitored userinteraction. The interaction information can be transferred to the proxyserver using any system or technique as known in the art.

In another embodiment, monitoring component 202 and logic component 204can be implemented at the proxy server. By way of a non-limitingexample, an object corresponding to a selection within a representationof a Web page containing Java script can be transferred to and/orthrough the proxy server. Monitoring component 202 can further monitorthe selection of hyperlinks and other active areas within therepresentation. Monitoring component 202 can monitor messages includingthe transmission of objects and events corresponding to selections inorder to monitor user interaction. Logic component 204 can use thereceived information to determine interaction information such as areacorresponding to the selection. In various proxy based embodiments,monitoring and logic components can be implemented at a client and/orproxy.

Information maintenance component 206 can be implemented at the proxyserver. In one embodiment, the maintenance component can be implementedas one or more files containing interaction information. In furtherembodiments, the maintenance can be maintained at any location includingat a third party. Deformation and logic components can accept and/orretrieve information from the maintenance component at the third party.In one embodiment, a proxy or third party implementation of theinformation maintenance component can be used to deform a representationof content for a second user using interaction information of a firstuser. For example, interaction information of a first user can bemaintained at a proxy, server, or on a network. A representation ofcontent accessed by a second user through the proxy, server, or networkcan be deformed using the interaction information of the first user.

In one embodiment, deformation component 208 is implemented at theproxy. At the proxy server, interaction information can be used in thedeformation of representations of interfaces and content accessedthrough the proxy server. For example, a user may request a web pageusing a web browser or other client based application. The proxy canretrieve the web page from a Web server (or locally if cached, e.g.).Deformation component 208 can use interaction information maintained bymaintenance component 206 to deform a representation of the requestedweb page before it is sent to the user. In one embodiment, a data filesuch as an .html document and/or Java script code corresponding to theweb page can be modified prior to sending the file to the user.Deformation component 208 can use previously determined interactioninformation with the requested web page or with other web pages orsimilar content. In one embodiment, a proxy based application can deforma representation of an interface or content based on a type of devicereceiving the content.

In another embodiment, deformation component 208 can be implemented atthe client device. Interaction information can be transferred to therequesting client along with data for the requested web page. Thedeformation component can deform a representation of the web page beforepresentation on the client device.

FIG. 3 is flowchart in accordance with one embodiment for deformingrepresentations of digital content. Although this figure depictsfunctional steps in a particular order for purposes of illustration, theprocess is not limited to any particular order or arrangement of steps.One skilled in the art will appreciate that the various steps portrayedin this figure could be omitted, rearranged, combined and/or adapted invarious ways.

In one embodiment, the flowchart can be performed in conjunction withstep 108 of FIG. 1 when deforming a second representation of digitalcontent. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary system that can be used todeform representations of digital content. Although this diagram depictsobjects/processes as logically separate, such depiction is merely forillustrative purposes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat the objects/processes portrayed in this figure can be arbitrarilycombined or divided into separate software, firmware or hardwarecomponents. Furthermore, it will also be apparent to those skilled inthe art that such objects/processes, regardless of how they are combinedor divided, can execute on the same computing device or can bedistributed among different computing devices connected by one or morenetworks. In various embodiments, the system of FIG. 4 can beimplemented as deformation component 208 and/or to execute the flowchartof FIG. 3.

At step 302, interaction information can be accepted. In one embodiment,interaction information is accepted by receiving the information atdeformation component 208 from information maintenance component 206.Information acceptance component 402 can receive and/or retrieveinteraction information from any storage location including from otherapplications. By way of non-limiting example, the acceptance componentcan access interaction information from dedicated storage units as wellas from files containing information for digital content.

At step 304, areas of a second representation corresponding tointeraction areas of a first representation can be determined. Areadeterminer 406 of logic component404 can determine corresponding areasin one embodiment.

In accordance with the various types of information identifyinginteraction areas, area determiner 406 can determine correspondinginteraction areas. Pixel coordinate(s) identifying an interaction areaof the first representation can be used to determine a correspondingarea of a second representation in one embodiment. Correspondinginteraction areas of the second representation can be determined byscaling the coordinate(s) in accordance with the ratio of the scales ofthe two representations.

Unique identifiers can also be used to identify correspondinginteraction areas of a representation. Corresponding interaction areasof a second representation can be determined by identifying acorresponding unique identifier of a second representation. Varioussoftware applications may use the same or similar unique identifiersthat can be used to deform corresponding areas of a second interface.For example, an interaction area corresponding to a menu item of asoftware application interface can be identified by a unique identifier.A corresponding unique identifier of a second application can beidentified to determine a corresponding area in a representation of aninterface of the second application. Unique identifiers can be used inembodiments where interactions with a first representation of a GUI fora software application are used to deform a second representation of theGUI for the software application. Moreover, unique identifiers can beused where interactions with a GUI of a first software application areused to deform a GUI of a second software application.

Unique identifiers can also be used when interactions with arepresentation of a first web page or similar document are used todeform a representation of a second web page or document. A document orfile, such as an html document, for a second web page can be searched toidentify a corresponding unique identifier from which a correspondinginteraction area can be determined. Destination URL addresses can beused to determine corresponding areas of a second interface inapplications for web pages. An interaction area of a first web pagecorresponding to a hyperlink can be identified using a destination URLaddress of the hyperlink. A file or document representing a second webpage can be searched to identify a hyperlink having the same destinationURL address. From the URL address, a corresponding area of arepresentation of the second web page can be determined.

Image comparison can also be used to determine corresponding areas of asecond representation. An image or other graphic corresponding to aninteraction area can be used to identify an interaction area of a firstrepresentation such as an interface. Area determiner 406 can compare theimage or graphic with images or graphics of areas of a secondrepresentation such as that of a second interface. A corresponding areaof the second representation can be determined from a matchingcomparison.

At step 306, a type of deformation to apply to the corresponding areasof a second representation can be determined. In one embodiment,information identifying a type of deformation to apply can be maintainedas part of the interaction information. A type of deformation can bestored along with interaction information determined at step 104. Whenthe information is accessed, type determiner 408 can determine the typeof deformation to apply from the specified information.

In other embodiments, a type of deformation is not maintained withinteraction information. In such embodiments, type determiner 408 candetermine a type of deformation from a set of default types ofdeformation, user-specified type of deformation, and/or type determinercan determine a type of deformation by evaluating the interactioninformation. In one embodiment, type determiner 408 includes a set ofrules to be used in determining types of deformation. An interactionarea can be evaluated and a type of deformation determined using therules. For example, type determiner 408 may determine that active areadeformation is to be applied to corresponding active interaction areasand a zoomed layout deformation applied to other correspondinginteraction areas using a set of rules.

At step 308, an amount of deformation to apply to corresponding areas ofa second representation can be determined. As with the type ofdeformation, information identifying an amount of deformation to applyto an interaction area can be maintained along with the interactioninformation in one embodiment. In other embodiments, an amount ofdeformation can be determined by amount determiner 410 using a defaultset of deformation amounts, user-specified amounts of deformation,and/or from an evaluation of the interaction information. A set of rulesthat can be configured by a user can be used in one embodiment. By wayof a non-limiting example, amount determiner 410 can access informationrelating to degree and sequence of interaction with interaction areas todetermine an amount of deformation. The amount of deformation applied toa corresponding interaction area can be increased according to thenumber of times an area is interacted with or according to a relativeinteraction with an area.

In one embodiment, determining a type and amount of deformation forareas of a second representation includes determining an animationsequence to apply to corresponding interaction areas. Logic component404 can determine an animation sequence using degree and sequence ofinteraction information. For example, an order of deformation ofinteraction areas can be determined from the sequence information andareas of greater interest or interaction can be presented for longerperiods of time during the animation or deformed by a larger amountduring the animation. As with other deformations, animation sequencescan be maintained along with interaction information or animationsequences can be determined by logic component 404 from such informationas the type of interaction area.

In one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, types andamounts of deformation can be determined from user specified parameters.For example, an exemplary application of the present invention caninclude configurable deformation options for rules used in determiningamounts and types of deformation. A user can select types ofdeformation, amounts of deformation, whether to apply deformation, andto what types of areas to apply deformations. A user can select whetheror not to apply deformations and if so, what type of deformations toapply. A user can also select to have different deformations apply todifferent types of identified interaction areas. Additionally, a usercan select to have deformations applied to representations of someapplication interfaces and content and not to other representations ofinterfaces and content. For example, in a background applicationimplementation, a user could select to only have deformations applied toher internet browser or word processing program and content presentedthrough the interfaces of the programs. Furthermore, a user can elect tohave deformations applied to certain representations of digital contentand not other representations of the digital content. For example, auser may select to have deformations applied to representations ofsoftware application interfaces when viewing them on a PDA and not whenviewing them on a laptop or desktop. In one embodiment, the userspecified parameters can be used to determine an amount and type ofdeformation at the time of rendering a second representation. In otherembodiments, the user specified parameters can be maintained along withinteraction information.

At step 310, the amount and type of deformation can be applied to asecond representation. In one embodiment, deformation applicationcomponent 412 can apply deformation to a second representation. Usingthe information determined at steps 306 and 308, the deformation can beapplied to the corresponding areas determined at step 304.

By way of non-limiting example, deformation application component 412can apply deformation to a second representation by accessing a documentobject model of digital content in order to change the content'sappearance or representation. A specification of how objects arerepresented in the content can be determined. Furthermore, howattributes are associated with objects and how each can be manipulatedcan be determined. The attributes and objects can then be manipulated inaccordance with interaction information. In one embodiment, the originaldigital content is not modified in order to deform the secondrepresentation. In other embodiments, digital content itself can bemodified and/or manipulated. In one embodiment, the deformation can beapplied dynamically as a representation is rendered.

In one embodiment, deformation is only applied to representations thatare scaled. A representation size may be compared to a nominalrepresentation size of the same or similar digital content. If therepresentation is determined to be scaled representation, interactioninformation can be used to deform the representation. In anotherembodiment, deformation is only applied to representations that arescaled-down.

Deformation can be applied to an original representation of digitalcontent and/or other representations of the same digital content or ofdifferent digital content. For example, a user may interact with arepresentation of digital content on a desktop machine and anotherrepresentation of the digital content on a PDA. User interaction withrepresentations presented on the desktop machine can be used todetermine interaction information that will be used to deformrepresentations of the same content on the PDA. Deformation can beapplied to a representation of the content on the PDA without thedeformation propagating to the original representation or to theunderlying digital content itself, although the deformation canpropagate to the original representation or underlying content if sodesired. Furthermore, interactions with a representation on the desktopcan be used to deform the same representation of the same digitalcontent on the desktop, a different representation of the same digitalcontent on the desktop, or a representation of different digital contenton the desktop. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in theart that various implementations can be utilized depending on the needsof a particular application in accordance with embodiments.

Various types of deformation can be applied to representations ofdigital content in accordance with various embodiments. As previouslydiscussed, active areas can include any area capable of receiving userinput and/or providing an action in response to user input. Active areasare often represented by a graphical representation of the active area.In many cases, active areas correspond directly with a graphicalrepresentation of the active area. For example, an active areacorresponding to a hyperlink often covers the same area as a graphicalrepresentation of the hyperlink (e.g., a text passage, image, etc.).However, an active area can be expanded or contracted or otherwise madeto be of a size not commensurate with the graphical representation ofthe active area.

FIG. 5 a illustrates an exemplary first representation 502 of digitalcontent. By way of a non-limiting example, first representation 502could be of an interface such as a word processing program or of somecontent such as a web page, document, image, or of some other suitablecontent. Representation 502 can include active areas as shown by theboxed lines. If representation 502 is of an interface, the active areasmay correspond to menu items, etc. If representation 502 is of a webpage, e.g., the active areas may correspond to hyperlinks, text inputfields, or other selectable areas. The boxed lines illustrate the activearea itself and not the graphical representation of the active area. Asillustrated, active areas 508 a-508 d have been determined to beinteraction areas. The underlining is provided merely for purposes ofexplanation and is not intended to represent actual content that wouldbe presented in the representation.

FIG. 5 b illustrates an exemplary corresponding second representation552. As discussed, second representation 552 could be a scaled versionof first representation 502, a representation of an interface for asecond application, a representation of different digital content suchas a second image, etc., or even the same representation as firstrepresentation 502. Using the identification of interaction areas fromfirst representation 502, corresponding interaction areas ofrepresentation 552 can be deformed. As illustrated, active interactionareas 558 a-d have been expanded relative to the overall size of therepresentation. Thus, a user can more easily select the interactionareas while still being able to select adjacent areas as well. Thelarger selectable areas can facilitate eased navigation and selection.When deforming active areas, including menu items, etc., the graphicalrepresentation of the active area or menu item need not be modified,although it can. In one embodiment, only the active area itself isdeformed. In other embodiments, the active area can be deformed and thegraphical representation or layout also deformed as discussed below.

Active areas can be deformed using other techniques and methods inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. 5 a-5 billustrate a simple example of expanding the selectable region of anactive area. In another embodiment, the selectable regions can beexpanded such that they overlap adjacent active areas. In yet anotherembodiment, selectable regions of adjacent active areas can becontracted to facilitate selection of interaction areas.

In one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, userinteraction and behavior can be used to deform the layout of arepresentation. User behavior and interaction can be used to deform anyarea of a representation, not just that of active areas. Layoutdeformation differs from deforming an active area itself in that thegraphical representation of an area is deformed, rather than an activearea. If a graphical representation of an area corresponds to an activearea, the active area may or may not be deformed. It will be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art that various combinations andsubcombinations of the deformation systems and methods discussed hereincan be useful in various applications and systems.

Deforming the layout of active areas corresponding to interaction areascan provide for improved interaction with an interface and/or otherrepresentations of digital content. Deformation of the layout of activeareas corresponding to interaction areas can provide useful feedback toa user that they can interact at an area. The deformation can lessen theburden of searching through scaled-down content to find an active area.Additionally, deforming the layout can improve the presentation of aninterface or content and make the interface and content more engaging.

Numerous deformation techniques can be used in accordance withembodiments of the present invention for layout deformation. Forexample, zooming in/out at an interaction area, presenting a fisheyeperspective of interaction areas, using a tool tip feature to provideadditional content such as what would be provided if an active areacorresponding to an interaction area were selected can all be used.Deformation can be combined with other techniques to further enhance thepresentation of an interface and content. In one embodiment, the layoutof interaction areas can be deformed based upon input received from auser. Deformation can occur upon a user placing a cursor over aninteraction area or upon a user placing a cursor over an interactionarea and simultaneously providing input by selecting with an inputdevice such as mouse. Furthermore, in touch-screen based interactionssuch as with a PDA, a layout deformation of the interaction areas canbegin as a user places an input device on a screen (pen-down) andindividual interaction areas can be deformed as the cursor is movedacross the area. By waving or moving a cursor across the interface, auser can quickly identify points of interest based upon past userinteraction.

In one embodiment of the present invention, layout deformation can beimplemented as an animation. As illustrated by FIG. 6, each interactionarea can be brought to the foreground in turn. FIG. 6 a illustrates afirst representation 600 of digital content (without deformation) inwhich areas 602, 604, and 606 have been determined to be interactionareas. The boxed lines around the interaction areas have been providedmerely for purposes of explanation. They are not intended to representactual content of the representations. FIGS. 6 b-6 d illustrate a secondrepresentation 610 of the digital slide over a period of time. Ananimation is applied to the representation such that correspondinginteraction areas 602′, 604′, and 606′ are each enlarged for a period oftime to bring the user's attention to the interaction areas. In variousembodiments, the animation can be presented once when representation 610is rendered or can repeat multiple times.

In one embodiment, an animation can be implemented to occurautomatically upon rendering a representation. In other embodiments,user input can be combined with animation to quickly present interactionareas to a user. For example, passing a cursor over a representation cantrigger an animation of interaction areas. The animation can respond tothe input received from a user. In one embodiment, only the verticalposition of the cursor is used to present an animation of underlyinginteraction areas. By passing the cursor up or down the representation,all interaction areas at a similar vertical location to the cursor canbe deformed using an animation. The deformation can occur regardless ofwhether the cursor actually passes over the interaction area.

Deformation can also be dependent on the nature of the tracked userinteraction and behavior. In one embodiment, the number of times a userinteracts with a particular area of a first representation can betracked. When the interaction area is rendered in a secondrepresentation, the number of times the interaction area was selectedcan be used to determine the amount of deformation to apply. The amountof zoom or to what degree an area is enlarged can be determined usingthe number of times the user interacted.

In one embodiment, the number of times an interaction area is selectedrelative to other interaction areas can be used to determine an amountof deformation. In addition, the type of deformation can depend upon thedegree of interest determined for an area. For example, frequentlyselected areas can be automatically enlarged or animated while lessselected areas can be enlarged upon cursor over.

In one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, a sequenceof interaction or behavior with a first representation can be used indeforming the layout of a second representation. By way of anon-limiting example, Web pages often include text boxes and a “submit”button to instigate transmission of the data provided in the box. Asillustrated in FIG. 7, a representation 702 of a web page on a firstdevice 700 can include textbox 704 to receive user data and a “submit”button 706 to instigate transmission of the data to the web pageprovider. It can be determined by observing and tracking user behaviorwith the representation of the web page that one or more usersinteracting with the page typically provide text in the box, thenposition a cursor over the submit button, and then select the button.The tracked information regarding the sequence of interaction can beused when a second representation of the web page is rendered.

As illustrated in FIGS. 7 b and 7 c, a scaled representation 702′ of theweb page has been rendered on PDA 708. FIGS. 7 b and 7 c illustrate therepresentation over some period of time. Information regardinginteraction with representation 702 can be used to create an animationwhereby text box 704′ is first enlarged to facilitate receiving data asillustrated in FIG. 7 b. Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 7 c, submitbutton 706′ can be enlarged to facilitate selection thereof. In oneembodiment, the animation is time based, deforming interaction areas forperiods of time. The animation can also be based on user input. A firstinteraction area can be deformed based upon the determined sequence ofinteraction. After receiving input, a second interaction area can bedeformed. The above animation technique can also be combined with activearea deformation to further improve the usability of the interface andcontent. In one embodiment, a first user's interaction with arepresentation of the web page can be used to determine interactioninformation that can then be used to deform a representation of the webpage presented to a second user.

In various embodiments, any interaction can be deformed or onlyinteraction areas corresponding to active areas can be deformed. In someapplications, it can be useful to deform all interaction areas and thendeform only interaction areas corresponding to active areas.Additionally, a first type of deformation may be applied to interactionareas corresponding to active areas and a second deformation applied toall other interaction areas. For example, it may be useful to deformnon-active interaction areas by enlarging the area upon cursor over. Foractive interaction areas, however, it may be useful to automaticallyexpand them. Additionally, if a non-active interaction area is enlargedsuch that it overlays an active area, an indication such as a visualhighlight around the non-active area can be used to indicate thepresence of an active area below the non-active enlarged area.

As discussed above, systems and methods in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention can be used to improve functionality in varioussoftware applications. For example, software is available that can allowan author to create a presentation such as a slide presentation and thenpresent the presentation to a group of end-users, whereby the end-userscan view the presentation on a personal device such as PDA, laptop, cellphone, etc. The devices of the presenter and the end-users may beconnected to a network such that the presenter can control thepresentation and the slides currently selected by the presenter can bepresented to the end-users. Slide as used herein is intended toreference any content forming part of a digital presentation. By way ofa non-limiting example, a slide can be or include audio, video, images,and any other suitable content. In one embodiment, a slide is capturedand presented at an end-user's device.

FIG. 8 is a system in accordance with an embodiment for usinginteraction information with a meeting software application. Theinteraction of presenter 804 with a representation of the presentationcan be monitored while authoring and/or presenting the presentation.Interaction may be monitored on any device including computer 802. In anembodiment, a monitoring component can be implemented at network 806.

Monitoring components on network 806 and/or devices 808-812 can monitoruser interaction with representations of the presentation. Monitoringuser interaction can include monitoring end-user selection of areaswithin a representation of the presentation slides and/or arepresentation of an interface of a meeting software application.

Interaction areas can be determined from user interaction withrepresentations of the presentation. A logic component such as logiccomponent 204 can be implemented at network 806 or on devices 808-812 todetermine interaction information. Interaction within areas (textual,image, etc.) defined by an author of the presentation or by applicationitself can be used to determine that an area defined by the boundariesis an interaction area. End-users can also select areas using an inputdevice such as by “highlighting” an area. For example, an end-user mayhighlight a textual passage in order to “copy” it to another interface,file, application, etc. An area defined by any such interaction can bedetermined to be an interaction area.

In one embodiment, a meeting software presentation application can allowusers to append annotations to the content of a presentation. Anannotation can include the addition of any content such as text to apresentation or portion thereof. Annotations can propagate torepresentations of the presentation on everyone's device or to a localrepresentation on a device of the user who is interacting.

In one embodiment, pre-defined areas of content such as text boxes 820and 822 shown in the expanded display of device 812 can be provided sothat an end-user can select an area to provide annotations thereto.These annotatable areas can have corresponding active areas such asactive area 826 of text box 820. An area can be defined by an author ofthe presentation or by a provider of the application. An end-userviewing the presentation can also select areas that are not pre-definedto add annotation. In one embodiment, the user's selection of such anarea is used to make the area active (selectable for annotation). Forexample, a user may use a mouse to highlight a text passage such aspassage 824 and add an annotation to the passage. In response to theuser's selection of the passage, the passage can be made active onrepresentations of the slide. An area to which a user has provided anannotation can also be determined to be an interaction area.

Interaction information can be maintained by a maintenance componentsuch as maintenance component 206 at individual devices or at network806. For example, a file containing interaction information can bestored at network 806. Representations of the presentation on one ormore devices can be deformed using the maintained interactioninformation. The deformation can include deforming a representation onall devices or only on select devices.

A deformation component can be implemented at network 806 and/or theindividual devices. In one embodiment, a deformation component atnetwork 806 can use interaction information to deform representations ofthe presentation before they are provided to the individual devices. Forexample, before a slide captured for transmission to an individualdevice is transmitted to a device, data for the slide can be modified inaccordance with the interaction information.

In another embodiment, a deformation component or an individual devicecan accept interaction information and deform a representation before itis rendered on the device. A slide may be provided to the device.Interaction information can be provided to the device as well. Theinformation can be imbedded in data for the slide or can be provided ina separate file. The deformation component can apply the interactioninformation to the slide before it is rendered on the device.

In one embodiment, interaction information used in conjunction withmeeting software applications can be used to improve the presentation ofa representation to a second user based on the interactions of a firstuser. For example, a first user may select an annotatable area orhighlight an area. The interaction information determined from the firstuser can be used to deform a representation presented to a second user.The deformed representation can include deformed active areas that allowfor easier selection, a deformed layout to enhance the presentationand/or bring a user's attention to areas of interest, and also newlydefined active areas. The first user's interaction (e.g., highlighting atext passage) can be used to make a corresponding text passage of arepresentation presented to a second user an active area. Thus, thesecond user need only click within the new active area to select thetext passage. The second user need not highlight the entire passage toselect it.

In one embodiment, a user can save one or more slides of thepresentation locally. In one such embodiment, interaction informationcan be applied such that the saved representation is deformed. Inanother embodiment, interaction information can also be stored locallyso that a representation of the presentation can be deformed thereafterwhen rendered.

Virtual networks allow users to remotely access devices and content fromany location. For example, a user may use a desktop computer connectedto an office network during the workday. Using virtual network software,the user can remotely access his desktop machine, another device on theoffice network, applications on the network, and other content on theoffice network from anywhere. The user may use virtual network softwareon his PDA, cellphone, or laptop in order to remotely access his worknetwork over the internet.

In many virtual network applications, a representation of content on aremote network is transmitted to the user's remote device. In someapplications, the user receives an image representing content on thenetwork. The user can interact with the representation of the image onthe remote device. User input can be transmitted to the network where itcan be processed by an application running on the network.

Some virtual network applications scale the image for presentation onthe end-user's device. For example, a representation of an internetbrowser interface may be scaled-down so that a user can view the entireinterface. If the transmitted image is scaled-down, a user must interactwith the smaller representation, thus making interaction more difficult.

FIG. 9 illustrates a system whereby a device 902 (a desktop computer asshown) connected with a network 904 is accessed using a remote device910 (a PDA as shown). As shown, the devices are in communication witheach other over networks 904, 906 and 908. It will be understood thatthe two devices can communicate in any suitable manner as is known andunderstood in the art. For example, both devices may be connected to asingle network, both devices may be in communication over a dedicatedconnection, or both devices can communicate over a plurality ofnetworks.

A representation 922′ of content presented on the PDA has been deformedusing interaction information determined from user interaction with adevice connected with network 904. Representation 922 depicts content ofdesktop computer 902. However, no representation need actually berendered by computer 902 or network 904 while a user is remotelyaccessing the device or network. Representation 922 is shown for clarityof discussion. It should be noted that the user need not be controllingthe same desktop computer on which interaction was monitored todetermine interaction information. Interaction information can bemaintained on the network and accessed when a user is connected with thenetwork in any way.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart in accordance with an embodiment for deformingrepresentations of content on a remote device that is accessing anetwork and/or another device using a virtual network softwareapplication. Although this figure depicts functional steps in aparticular order for purposes of illustration, the process is notlimited to any particular order or arrangement of steps. One skilled inthe art will appreciate that the various steps portrayed in this figurecould be omitted, rearranged, combined and/or adapted in various ways.

At step 1002 of FIG. 10, user interaction with representations ofdigital content on one or more devices (such as desktop computer 902)are monitored. A monitoring component can be implemented at device 902,network 904, network 906, and/or network 908.

Interaction with representations of web pages, software applicationinterfaces, and other content can be monitored. The interaction can beused to determine interaction information at step 804. Determininginteraction information may include determining interaction areas ofrepresentations of multiple documents, web pages, and GUI's. Interactionarea information may be evaluated to develop degree and sequence ofinteraction information. One or multiple users' interaction with one ormultiple devices can be monitored to develop the interactioninformation. A logic component can be implemented at device 902, network904, network 906, and/or network 908 to determine interactioninformation.

At step 1006, the interaction information can be maintained. Aninformation maintenance component at any device or network can maintainthe information. The information may be persisted anywhere on thenetworks, including as a file on a storage device or on a computingdevice on which interaction was monitored. In one embodiment, theinteraction information is stored at a proxy server. In one embodiment,a file containing interaction information of a user can be associatedwith the user using a username, for example, so that when a user logs into the network, his individual interaction information can be used todeform representations of content the user is accessing.

At step 1008, a remote user is logged into the network using a standardvirtual network software application on a remote device such as PDA 910for example. At step 1010, the virtual network application can transferuser input from the remote device to the network and on to a deviceconnected with the network. At the network, the user input can bereceived and used to transfer a representation of content requested bythe user to the remote device. For example, a representation of the“desktop” (including, e.g., an operating system interface and otherapplication interfaces being used) of desktop computer 902 can betransferred to the user. Thus, the user can remotely control the desktopcomputer.

FIG. 11 a is a flowchart in accordance with an embodiment whereininteraction information is used at the PDA to deform representations ofcontent. Although this figure depicts functional steps in a particularorder for purposes of illustration, the process is not limited to anyparticular order or arrangement of steps. One skilled in the art willappreciate that the various steps portrayed in this figure could beomitted, rearranged, combined and/or adapted in various ways.

In one embodiment, the flowchart of FIG. 11 a can be used as part ofstep 1010 of FIG. 10. At step 1102, a representation(s) of digitalcontent can be received by the remote device. As illustrated in FIG. 9,a first representation 922 of an email application is presented ondevice 902. Since PDA 910 is controlling desktop computer 910, a secondrepresentation 922′ of the email application is presented on the PDA. Asillustrated the second representation has been deformed.

At step 1104, interaction information can be received at PDA 910. PDA910 can retrieve the interaction information or the information can bereceived along with the representation(s) at step 1102. At step 1106,the interaction information can be used at the PDA to deform therepresentation(s) received from the desktop device. For example, if animage representing content on the desktop is received, areascorresponding to interaction areas in the representation(s) could beenlarged or zoomed, etc. At step 1108, the deformed representation canbe rendered on the remote device.

FIG. 11B is a flowchart in accordance with an embodiment whereininteraction information is used to deform representations of contentprior to transmission to a remote device such as PDA 910. Although thisfigure depicts functional steps in a particular order for purposes ofillustration, the process is not limited to any particular order orarrangement of steps. One skilled in the art will appreciate that thevarious steps portrayed in this figure could be omitted, rearranged,combined and/or adapted in various ways.

At step 1122, a device on the network such as desktop computer 902receives a user request from PDA 910 for content on the network. At step1124, interaction information is retrieved. At step 1126, theinteraction information is used to deform a representation of therequested content. At step 1128, the deformed representation of therequested content is transmitted to the remote device.

Referring to FIG. 9, areas 930, 932, and 934 of first representation 922are determined interaction areas of a representation of the requestedcontent. Accordingly, corresponding areas 930′, 932′, 934′ of the secondrepresentation rendered on display PDA 910 have been deformed. Thus,user interaction with representations of content presented on desktopcomputer 902 and/or other devices on network 904 have been used todeform the layout of representations of content presented on PDA 910. Inthis manner, a user's previous interaction with content can be re-usedto enhance the usability of scaled-representations of the same content.

FIG. 12 is a system in accordance with an embodiment wherein userinteraction with a representation of content presented on a personaldevice can be used to improve a representation of the content presentedon a shared device. Dynamic bulletin boards, one type of shared device,can be used in public areas, work environments, and other areas to shareinformation with groups of people.

Video display “bulletin board” 1200 can be used to share digital contentand present representations of content to a plurality of people. By wayof a non-limiting example, employees can post digital content to abulletin board such that a representation of the content can bedisplayed on the bulletin board. Employees can post web pages,documents, presentations, or any other digital content found to be ofinterest. In many applications, multiple representations may bedisplayed on the board simultaneously.

Representations 1202, 1204, and 1206 of web pages have been posted tobulletin board 1202 are presented. Users connected with a network onwhich the board is connected can post content to the board as is knownand understood in the art. For example, a server may host the content ofthe display and users can designate certain content using an applicationprovided by the server.

As can be seen, an individual observing the bulletin board is presentedwith a considerable amount of content. Depending on a user's locationrelative to the display, viewing and interacting with therepresentations may be more difficult in their scaled form.

In one embodiment, a user's interaction with a representation of contentis used to deform a representation of content presented on the boardthrough the display. For example, an employee may interact with a webpage at his desktop computer and then post the page to the board. Theuser's interaction with a representation of the web page on his desktopcan be monitored, interaction information determined, and theinformation tracked. When the user posts the page to the board, theinteraction information can be used to deform a representation of thepage when presented on the display. A deformation component inaccordance with an embodiment on a network connected with the displaycan access the interaction information and deform the representation ofthe web page presented on the display.

Representation 1202 of a web page includes interaction areas 1210, 1212,1214, 1216 and 1218 that correspond to interaction areas determined byobserving user interaction with another representation of the web page.In this example, corresponding interaction areas 1210, 1212, 1214, 1216,and 1218 of representation 1202 are enlarged.

By deforming the representations using the tracked interactioninformation, a viewer of the board can be presented with more targetedcontent. The representation can identify to the user which areas weredetermined to be have been of interest to a previous user. Thus, aviewer of the board can more quickly and easily absorb and otherwisetake in the content presented by the representation. Furthermore, activeareas can be deformed to improve interaction with the representations.

In another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, interactionwith a representation of a digital image can be used to deform a scaledrepresentation of the image such as a thumbnail. A user may interactwith a representation of a digital image in order to edit or manipulatethe image. For example, a user may utilize a photo editing applicationhaving a user interface to select certain areas of an image for editing.A user may select an area for copying or to adjust the brightness,color, contrast, etc. of a selected area. A user may further selectparticular areas in order to leave an annotation on the area.

Interaction areas within the image can be determined by monitoring userinteraction with the image. For example, an API of an editingapplication can be accessed to determine events such as mouse clickswithin the image. A user may use an input device to select particularareas of the image for editing, copying, annotating, etc. Areas selectedby a user can be determined to be interaction areas. The interactionareas can be tracked and used to deform a scaled representation of theimage. In another embodiment, image comparison can be used. Thus,interaction with a first representation of a first image can be used todeform a representation of a second image. For example, face recognitionsoftware can be used to identify corresponding areas such as the sameface in a representation of a second image.

FIG. 13 a illustrates an exemplary representation 1300 of a digitalimage without deformation. The representation could be a full sizerepresentation of the image presented on a desktop, etc. Areas 1302,1304, 1306, 1308, and 1310 (dotted lines indicate the area determined tohave been an interaction area and do not represent any part of theactual representation) have been determined to be interaction areasbased on monitored user interaction with this representation of thedigital image or another representation of the image.

FIG. 13 b illustrates a second representation 1310 of the digital imagehaving applied deformations. Second representation 1310 could be athumbnail or other scaled representation of the digital image. As shown,the layout corresponding to interaction areas 1302, 1304, 1306, 1308,and 1310 has been deformed. The corresponding interaction areas (1302′,1304′, 1306′, 1308′, 1310′) have been enlarged. The enlarged areas canfacilitate eased understanding of and interaction with the scaledrepresentation of the image. Other deformation techniques can be appliedin addition to or in place of the shown deformation. For example, theinteraction areas could be animated such that each interaction area isenlarged in turn. Such an example can help users understand the imagewithout having to interact with it.

In one digital image example, a background application in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention can access interactioninformation to deform a representation of a digital image presentedthrough a typical user interface such as those of internet browsers andphoto editing software. In further embodiments, an application deforms arepresentation only when the representation is scaled in relation to anominal or typical representation of the digital content.

One embodiment may be implemented using a conventional general purposeor a specialized digital computer or microprocessor(s) programmedaccording to the teachings of the present disclosure, as will beapparent to those skilled in the computer art. Appropriate softwarecoding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on theteachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the software art. The invention may also be implemented bythe preparation of integrated circuits or by interconnecting anappropriate network of conventional component circuits, as will bereadily apparent to those skilled in the art.

One embodiment includes a computer program product which is a storagemedium (media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be usedto program a computer to perform any of the features presented herein.The storage medium can include, but is not limited to, any type of diskincluding floppy disks, optical discs, DVD, CD-ROMs, microdrive, andmagneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, DRAMs, VRAMs, flashmemory devices, magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (includingmolecular ICs), or any type of media or device suitable for storinginstructions and/or data.

Stored on any one of the computer readable medium (media), the presentinvention includes software for controlling both the hardware of thegeneral purpose/specialized computer or microprocessor, and for enablingthe computer or microprocessor to interact with a human user of othermechanism utilizing the results of the present invention. Such softwaremay include, but is not limited to, device drivers, operating systems,execution environments/containers, and user applications.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention has been provided for the purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to the practitioner skilled in the art.Embodiments were chosen and described in order to best describe theprinciples of the invention and its practical application, therebyenabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention, thevarious embodiments and with various modifications that are suited tothe particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of theinvention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for displaying a representation of digital content,comprising: monitoring user behavior while interacting with a firstrepresentation of digital content, wherein the user behavior includesinteracting with a first display interaction area and at least a seconddisplay interaction area; determining interaction information from theuser behavior, wherein the interaction information identifies the firstdisplay interaction area and at least the second display interactionarea from the user behavior with the first representation of digitalcontent and an order in which the first display interaction area and atleast the second display interaction area of the first representation ofdigital content are selected; maintaining the interaction information;deforming a second representation of digital content using theinteraction information, wherein deforming includes scaling at least oneof the first display interaction area and the second display interactionarea of the first representation of digital content based on theinteraction information as the second representation, wherein thescaling alters the first display interaction area relative to the seconddisplay interaction area; and displaying the second representation ofdigital content, wherein a first display condition of the first displayinteraction area where the first representation is displayed isdifferent from a second display condition of a second display area wherethe second representation is displayed.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein deforming a second representation includes deforming an activearea of the second representation.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereindeforming a second representation includes deforming a layout of thesecond representation.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first andsecond representation are of the same digital content.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the digital content is at least one of a web page, adigital document, a digital image, an electronic book, a digital slide,and a graphical user interface.
 6. The method of claim 4, whereinmaintaining the interaction information comprises: adding theinteraction information to a file containing data for the digitalcontent.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first representation is arepresentation of first digital content and the second representation isa representation of second digital content.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein the first representation is a representation of a firstgraphical user interface and the second representation is arepresentation of a second graphical user interface.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein monitoring user behavior while interacting with thefirst representation comprises: monitoring user interaction with thefirst representation of digital content; and determining interactionareas from the user interaction with the first representation.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein monitoring user behavior while interactingwith the first representation further comprises: evaluating userinteraction with the interaction areas.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein deforming the second representation comprises: determininginteraction areas of the second representation corresponding to thefirst representation; deforming the corresponding interaction areas. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein deforming the corresponding interactionareas includes at least one of enlarging the interaction areas, applyinga fisheye perspective to the interaction areas, and zooming theinteraction areas.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring userbehavior while interacting with a first representation of digitalcontent includes monitoring user behavior while interacting with atleast one of a first representation of a graphical user interface, afirst representation of a digital image, a first representation of anelectronic book, and a first representation of a digital slide.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein maintaining the interaction informationincludes maintaining the interaction information with an identificationof the digital content from which the interaction information wasdetermined.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein deforming the secondrepresentation includes applying an animation to areas of the secondrepresentation using the interaction information.
 16. The method ofclaim 1, wherein determining interaction information from the userbehavior includes determining a degree of interaction with at least onearea of the first representation.
 17. The method of claim 1, whereindetermining interaction information from the user behavior includesdetermining a sequence of interaction with the first representation. 18.The method of claim 1, wherein the first representation is not deformedwhen deforming the second representation.
 19. The method of claim 1,wherein the first and second representation are representations of thesame digital content, and wherein: the second representation is deformedwithout modifying the digital content.
 20. The method of claim 1,wherein maintaining the interaction information comprises storing theinteraction information at at least one of a client-side device, aserver, and a proxy server.
 21. The method of claim 1, wherein:monitoring user behavior while interacting with a first representationof digital content comprises monitoring a first user's behaviorincluding highlighting a textual passage of content or selecting aportion of an image or document while interacting with the firstrepresentation; and deforming a second representation of digital contentusing the interaction information comprises deforming a secondrepresentation presented to a second user.
 22. The method of claim 1,wherein deforming a second representation includes deforming an activearea of the second representation corresponding to the first displayinteraction area and at least the second display interaction area of thefirst representation.
 23. A method for presenting a representation ofdigital content, comprising: monitoring user behavior while interactingwith a first representation of digital content on a first device,wherein user behavior includes how often or how many times a firstdisplay interaction area and at least a second display interaction areaare interacted with or in what order a user interacts with the firstdisplay interaction area and at least the second display interactionarea; determining interaction information from the user behavior,wherein the interaction information identifies the first displayinteraction area and at least the second display interaction area fromthe user interaction with the first representation of digital contentand an order in which the first display interaction area and at leastthe second display interaction area of the first representation ofdigital content are selected; maintaining the interaction information;deforming a second representation of digital content on a second deviceusing the interaction information, wherein deforming includes scaling aportion of at least one of the first display interaction area and thesecond display interaction area of the first representation of digitalcontent based on the interaction information as the secondrepresentation, wherein the scaling scales only a portion of the firstdisplay interaction area and the second display interaction arearelative to the first representation; and presenting the representationof digital content.
 24. A method for presenting digital content,comprising: presenting a first representation of digital content on afirst device; presenting a second representation of the digital contenton a second device; monitoring user interaction with at least one of thefirst representation and the second representation, wherein the userinteraction includes identifying a first display interaction area and atleast a second display interaction area from the user interaction withthe first representation of digital content and a first displayinteraction area and at least a second display interaction area from theuser interaction with the second representation of digital content;determining interaction information from the user interaction, whereinthe interaction information includes an identification of at least thefirst display interaction area and the second display interaction areaof the first representation or the second representation and an order inwhich the first display interaction area and the second displayinteraction are of the first representation or the second representationare selected; maintaining the interaction information; deforming atleast one of the first representation and the second representation ofthe digital content using the interaction information; wherein saiddeforming step includes at least one of deforming the firstrepresentation using interaction information determined from interactionwith the second representation and deforming the second representationusing interaction information determined from interaction with the firstrepresentation, wherein deforming includes scaling text contained in atleast one of the first display interaction area and the second displayinteraction area of the first representation of digital content based onthe interaction information as the second representation, wherein thescaling scales only the text contained in the first display interactionarea and the second display interaction area relative to the firstrepresentation; and presenting the digital content.
 25. A method forpresenting digital content, comprising: identifying a first displayinteraction area and at least a second display interaction area of arepresentation of digital content determined to be of interest usingobserved user interaction which includes evaluating an order in whichthe first display interaction area and at least the second displayinteraction area of the representation of digital content are selectedand how often or how many times the first display interaction area andat least the second display interaction area are selected; accepting theinteraction area and the user interaction as interaction information;deforming the representation of the digital content using theinteraction information, wherein deforming includes scaling at least oneof the first display interaction area and the second display interactionarea of the first representation of digital content based on theinteraction information as the second representation, wherein thescaling scales one of the first display interaction area and the seconddisplay interaction area relative to the first representation; andpresenting the digital content.
 26. The method of claim 25, wherein therepresentation of the digital content is a second representation of thedigital content, and wherein: the interaction information is interactioninformation determined from interaction with a first representation ofthe digital content.
 27. The method of claim 25, wherein the digitalcontent is second digital content, and wherein: the interactioninformation is interaction information determined from interaction witha representation of first digital content.
 28. The method of claim 27,wherein the first digital content is a first web page and the seconddigital content is a second web page.
 29. A method for determininginteraction information, comprising: monitoring user behavior whileinteracting with a first representation of digital content, wherein theuser behavior includes how often or how many times a first displayinteraction area and at least a second display interaction area areinteracted with and at least an order a user interacts with the firstdisplay interaction area and at least the second display interactionarea; determining interaction information from the user behavior,wherein the interaction information includes identifying the firstdisplay interaction area and at least the second display interactionarea from the user behavior with the first representation of digitalcontent and the order in which the first display interaction area and atleast the second display interaction area of the first representation ofdigital content are selected, wherein deforming includes scaling one ormore pixels selected in at least one of the first display interactionarea and the second display interaction area of the first representationof digital content based on the interaction information as the secondrepresentation, wherein the scaling scales only the one or more pixelsselected in the first display interaction area and the second displayinteraction area relative to the first representation; and maintainingthe interaction information.
 30. A method for distributing digitalcontent, comprising: accepting a request for digital content from adevice; retrieving the digital content; retrieving interactioninformation, wherein the interaction information identifies a firstdisplay interaction area and at least a second display interaction areafrom the user interaction with the digital content and an order in whichthe first display interaction area and at least the second displayinteraction area of the digital content are selected; modifying thedigital content based on the interaction information, wherein deformingincludes scaling two or more pixels selected in at least one of thefirst display interaction area and the second display interaction areaof the first representation of digital content based on the interactioninformation as the second representation, wherein the scaling scalesonly the two or more pixels selected in the first display interactionarea and the second display interaction area relative to the firstrepresentation; and transferring the modified digital content to thedevice.
 31. The method of claim 30, wherein a representation of thedigital content is deformed in accordance with the interactioninformation when presented on the device.
 32. The method of claim 30,wherein retrieving the digital content comprises: retrieving a copy ofthe digital content.
 33. A method for distributing digital content,comprising: accepting a request for digital content from a device;retrieving the digital content; retrieving interaction information,wherein the interaction information identifies a first displayinteraction area and at least a second display interaction area from theuser interaction with the digital content, wherein the interactioninformation identifies degrees of interaction with the first displayinteraction area and at least the second display interaction area andsequences of interaction with the first display interaction area and atleast the second display interaction area of the digital content; andtransferring the interaction information and the digital content to thedevice; wherein a representation of the digital content is deformed atthe device using the interaction information, wherein the deformingincludes scaling at least one of the first display interaction area andthe second display interaction area of the first representation ofdigital content based on the interaction information as the secondrepresentation, wherein the scaling does not scale the entire firstdisplay interaction area relative to the first representation.
 34. Themethod of claim 33, wherein transferring the interaction information andthe digital content to the device comprises: transferring a first filecontaining the interaction information and a second file containing thedigital content.
 35. The method of claim 33, wherein transferring theinteraction information and the digital content to the device comprises:adding the interaction information to a file including the digitalcontent; transferring the file to the device.
 36. The method of claim35, wherein the digital content is not modified by adding theinteraction information.
 37. A computer readable medium, comprising: acode segment including instructions to monitor user behavior whileinteracting with a first representation of digital content; a codesegment including instructions to determine interaction information fromthe user behavior, wherein the interaction information identifies afirst display interaction area and at least a second display interactionarea from the user interaction with the digital content, wherein theinteraction information includes how often or how many times a firstdisplay interaction area and at least a second display interaction areaare selected and an order in which the first display interaction areaand at least the second display interaction area are selected; a codesegment including instructions to maintain the interaction information,wherein the instructions to maintain include logging and storing; and acode segment including instructions to deform a second representation ofdigital content using the interaction information, wherein the deformingincludes scaling at least one of the first display interaction area andthe second display interaction area of the first representation ofdigital content based on the interaction information as the secondrepresentation, wherein the scaling scales the first display interactionarea and the second display interaction area relative to the firstrepresentation.
 38. A machine readable medium having instructions storedthereon that when executed by a processor cause a system to: monitoruser behavior while interacting with a first representation of digitalcontent; determine interaction information from the user behavior,wherein the interaction information identifies a first displayinteraction area and at least a second display interaction area from theuser interaction with the first representation of digital content and anorder in which the first display interaction area and at least thesecond display interaction area of the first representation of digitalcontent are selected; maintain the interaction information, whereinmaintaining the interaction information, includes logging and storing;and deform a second representation of digital content using theinteraction information, wherein the deform includes scaling at leastone of the first display interaction area and the second displayinteraction area of the first representation of digital content based onthe interaction information as the second representation, wherein thescaling scales the first display interaction area and the second displayinteraction area relative to the first representation.
 39. A system,comprising: means for monitoring user behavior while interacting with afirst representation of digital content; means for determininginteraction information from the user behavior, wherein the interactioninformation identifies a first display interaction area and at least asecond display interaction area from the user interaction with the firstrepresentation of digital content and an order in which the firstdisplay interaction area and at least the second display interactionarea of the first representation of digital content are selected; meansfor maintaining the interaction information, wherein the means formaintaining include logging and storing; and means for deforming asecond representation of digital content using the interactioninformation, wherein the deforming includes scaling the first displayinteraction area of the first representation of digital content based onthe interaction information as the second representation, wherein thescaling scales the second display interaction area with the ratio of thescale of the first display interaction area in the second representationto the first diplay interaction area in the first representation.